overhual

[overhual]

immediate chef's kiss. prose, characterization, headcanons... 11/10 through and through. i'm a little obsessed i shan't lie.

how's my portrayal: always accepting.

aaaaaaaaaaa thank you isa <3 this means to much to me, as your writing makes ME want to be better daily. and listen its YOU who made me love overhaul in the first place so i have you to thank for even inspiring ME to pick him up.

[overhual]

the board before them tells two stories. one, a tale of novice strategy. the attempt is clear — maybe even impressive to fellow beginners. as usual, it's the long game missed by these types of players. gratification must wait. sacrifices must be made. in the end, this goal could be seen ... but perhaps not in this round. " the game's just beginning. a victor has yet to be decided. be patient, shigaraki. " two, a story of meticulous planning. one that takes her pieces with brutal force. to go easy on her would be to insult her. to play her like this is to increase her willingness to compromise and patience.

hands fold in his lap, observing the board with a calculated gaze. easily do gloved fingers reach out to slide his piece over. it's a piece he's aware he'll lose, but the endgame is still lining up to be his. " demanding today, aren't we? " demanding every day, but overhaul opts to focus on the finer details. " bubaigawara and toga are settling in well enough ... tell me, what do you think about in-fighting? "

she makes her move with a fractious, petulant gesture. the windowless room, illuminated by the flaxen light of overhead lamps, is more comparable to a cage than an office, and paired with the nuisance of following overhaul's lackey through the labyrinthian halls to even get here, tomura finds his jaw clenched tight enough to grow sore. its choleric temper isn't hidden from its company, either; though she finally plants her feet upon the floor rather than his table, the glower behind her eyes is unmistakable as he observes the young head's remarkably insufferable demeanor. ❝ i'm sick of playing. just tell me your point and we can move on, ❞ she hisses, partly in fact that these meetings tend to be more of a lecture than a conversation, and partly because she's finding herself, yet again, losing to him.

both restless and souring, tomura fidgets in her seat. her lips pull taut, curling into a scowl behind the ever-present clutch of father. ❝ you already got what you wanted — and if we're being honest, here, i'm not in the mood to listen to you prattle on about just how competent you find yourself to be. ❞ @overhual, ♡.

[overhual]

a wounded dog will bark all the same. may it howl and snarl in defense, it will always bark. its bite shall be sharper — its movements more keen. that's what he wants. coming across geten was a blessing in disguise. why anyone might've cast him out is beyond chisaki's knowledge. he's heard tell of someone stronger placed where geten once followed from — and he finds that hard to believe. someone so loyal should be valued. overhaul values him.

" i intend to do so. first, you'll need to get familiar with what we do here. " simply put as he stalks through the ever-winding halls. false pathways and trapped doors populate on either side, but follow his lead. geten won't be lead astray. " we're far more subtle than the liberation army you come from. chronostasis will take you to some of our locations next week. be respectful of those you encounter. " within that time, he'll be fitted with a mask. smaller, overhaul imagines. one that can mostly stay tucked with him behind the hood.

after another moment, overhaul leads him down another path. this one looks far more ... domestic, almost. he stops at a door, soon propping it open for geten to step into. a small dorm is to beheld. a bed, a closet, a bathroom, and even a small area for cooking waits to be claimed. " for now, this is where you'll stay. as you settle in, you'll be able to personalize it as you see fit ... how's the head? " he taps his temple. " aching, i bet. "

Geten's remark carries no accusation, no offense. It's a simple statement, and Kai's answer is accepted just as simply. There's beauty in simplicity, and it's clinging to that simplicity that keeps Geten's head from splitting in two every time he had more than a moment to think to himself.

He falls in step behind the young boss like a shadow, but unlike the shades that cling to the walls, there is no fear. He's completely at ease in the presence of Overhaul-- no, he's completely at ease beneath Overhaul, the understanding of their differences in rank as fact to him as the sky being blue. Overhaul had found a good dog, one that knows sit, stay, heel-- one that knows the appropriate distance to follow from, close but far enough so as not to contaminate the air with his breath, head lowered but attentive.

How could anyone abandon a dog like him?

He almost reaches up to cradle the new ache in his skull, but he knows better than to move in such a self-pitying away in front of his new master. Wounds can be licked in private.

"My life is yours. Use it as you see fit."

[overhual]

M. | ❝ did you miss me? ❞ / @necrotises

" why, tomura. you act as though i've have time to miss you. " night keeps its steadfast grip over the villa. even the moon seems to interrupt the quietness of the time, a light too bright. though his retort rolls easily off the tongue, his expression reveals how true his sarcasm seems. eyes droop with rarely seen exhaustion. as the mask is unhooked from his face, a soft collection of stubble gathers around his chin. he's tired. between rebuilding the hassaikai from the ground up, being an active lieutenant, and managing the medical ward, fatigue clings to bones.

yet still, time was carved to come to the villa beneath the guise of work. perhaps it was even believable to all but the two of them. his gaze lingers on her. " you know the answer. "

[overhual]

" yes. yes, i was. " the answer comes immediate. he feels like a child before him once more, begging for redemption from the one who took him in. everything he did -- everything he does now is in the single most desire to repay the kindness shown to a lost kid on the street. he was twisted in his belief before. time has made him aware of that fact. abandoning humanity is not only ignoring pops' wishes, but disgracing them. for that, he feels nauseous. " there won't be a next time. i swear that to you. i ... learned my lesson. i lost everything. in rebuilding the hassaikai now, i want only to honor you. "

upon being beckoned, the young head stands upright. clustered hives gather on his forehead and trickle down over each cheekbone. he's honest as he speaks, raw. his jaw clenches tightly, keeping the lump in his throat down. " as for the girl, i can only hope my absence in her life will suffice. i hope the bonds she's made with the heroes will one day lessen the harm i caused her. "

hands coil into fists at his sides. this time, however, it's not out of anger. it's determination. one day he can look pops in the face again for longer than a few seconds. one day he'll be able to call him that again. one day. until then ... " i can. i will. i want you to return as my advisor ... my elder. you'll have a hand in decision-making. i'll heed your advice. " his voice lowers. eyes cast to the ground. " i want the rest of your days to be spent in peace. "

He stares, features unchanging as Kai performs the dogeza. His fingers brush against his forehead as he sighs, tilting his head up, toward the ceiling, and taking a heavy breath in an attempt to re-center himself.

They say stress is no good for your heart, and he'd put enough strain on his for a lifetime. There will be a time for him to unleash all his anger. Now is not that time.

"Were you ever truly dedicated?" Is what he decides to ask, his voice even, firm. "Is there a point in teaching when you have a student who refuses to learn? What happens the next time my morals do not align with yours, Kai? Will I be at risk again? I very well may not wake up next time."

The hand on his head moves to scratch at his jaw, as another sigh makes his shoulders slump, if only for a moment, before he straightens himself back up.

"You have. Failed me. More than that, you failed all of us, none more so than Eri. Sorry's not going to cut it. I don't know if there's anything you could do to make up for it."

Even so, he waves his hand, motioning for Kai to stand.

"But that doesn't mean you stop trying to. You don't ever stop trying. You're not a child, Kai. I can't hold your hand through this anymore. I need to see initiative. I need you to show me that this isn't something temporary that will go away once you come up with some new idea or something takes your attention away."

He crosses his arms over his chest, nodding toward Kai slowly.

"Can you do that?"

[overhual]

M. | ❝ that could have gone better. ❞ / @dawnmantle - aerith.

" how were you expecting it to go? " he heaves in the aftermath of the battle. before them, a crowd of downed villains. most of them are either overhauled into unconsciousness, or writhe in pain from the remnants of aerith's staff. filthy. he's filthy now. the sleeves of his jacket brush against skin that aches with unease. anxiety spikes. his contaminated hand clenches into a fist and rubs the arm.

he's trained to handle this sort of external stimuli now. but between keeping the healer safe and managing the ambush, his filth near overwhelms him. breaths are meticulously counted in sets of four. disgusting.

" we lived; we should be grateful for that. the police should be here soon ... " put his mind to other things. keep him focused until the compulsion passes. he steps towards her, casual as ever. all the while, bees hum and sting beneath the skin. it's static. it's disease. " let me see you. are you injured? "

[overhual]

" nothing about what just happened would read 'so easily' to me. that was hard-won. " an acknowledgement of her strength — of the league's strength. word of re-destro's self-amputation and surrender spread like wildfire. unfortunately, he couldn't tend to the former grand commander himself. a liberation underling was sent in his place. he had the successor to examine. chisaki's minor wounds were overhauled promptly after the fight. poor trumpet continues to nurse a broken jaw. " the course of history has changed, for better or worse, and you're at the helm of it ... how does that feel to you? " and then an exhale of amusement follows. " have you even had a chance to think about it? "

she's a wreck, in generous terms. hooded eyes flick between each noted area of injury while measuring the amount of strength left in the hand he assesses. " all over, huh? " by mere miracle she's awake, by even more rare circumstance, it's alive. " this arm isn't broken, but your wrist is sprained. i'll wrap it. try to baby it for the next week. no over-extending or lifting too much. " it becomes abundantly clear she'll need written instructions for when the shock wears off, and all of this becomes a blur. he switches to the opposite hand rather quickly once his eyes land upon it. the mangled collection of bone and flesh can hardly even be called a hand, as mutilated as it looks.

" that's a stretch. " gently said at the nickname, though his lips curl into a mix between a grimace and a smirk behind his mask. " i'm trying not to dwell on it ... besides, you're not the first 'walking biohazard' i've dealt with today. " a pause. he reaches those manic eyes. " i recommend overhauling this hand. promptly. i can't restore your fingers, but i can close the wound and reassemble your nerve endings. "

sharpened from the injuries abating her zeal, tomura grins. discolored teeth gnash in brute victory, encrusted with a black-red blood that coagulates with spittle and sweat. though it is understood that her body took damage (be it the broken foot, torn muscle tender and knotted, tissue inflating with fluid, her ankle pivoted just far enough to seem unnatural; or, perhaps, the blood rushing from the top of her head, discharging over her eyes and weighing down the lids, so much so that if she were to blink too frequently, it may rush into her still-sensitive eyes), it isn't processing the extent to which it howls in pain. adrenaline acuminates her resolve, its heart rabbit-quick. the tension in her muscles are pulled back like a spring, welled with a cataclysmic potentiation looming just under the weight of her grasp. the stumps of her fingers spasm from their injury, blood leaching from the wound in tandem with each effort of her heartbeat.

“ overhaul, ” he murmurs. despite her condition, tomura's tone is phlegmatic. poised. a blade meticulously rupturing pulsing meat. her hand raises, gingerly offering the damaged limb for examination. “ do you really have such little faith in me? i don't go down so easily. ”

obliging to the request, tomura carefully places her weight into her right arm, pushing her fingers against the gloved hand. in the motion, an exquisite pain tunnels through her body, through her arm and halting just beyond her shoulder. still, she barely flinches. her arm is devastated. pallid flesh is underscored by red welts splitting through her skin, sore to the touch, sore to move. “ in general? i guess it's all over. you should check my left hand... and my foot's a bit of an annoyance, too, ” it grunts, flicking its eyes towards his. “ also, my arm gets sore trying to do what you asked, but that's to be expected. ” his tongue drags over blunt teeth. slowly does its opposite arm raise, examining the chunk of bone and meat where her fingers once were. “ i must be a walking biohazard to you, doctor. i should be the one surprised that you're not breaking out in hives. ”

[overhual]

" nemoto. sit. " outward does his hand extend in invitation. he sits cross-legged on one couch. the other remains open to him. not irinaka nor kurono are present for this meeting. how blessed the underling must feel, to be so singled out by his leering gaze. gloved hands fold across his lap, head tilting nearly benevolent. give them not what they just want— but what they need. identify each gaping hole carved into skin and muscle. fill it with ambition and belief. bandage with a thin amount of trust, and watch them fall in line. " i'll need you to use your quirk when we meet with toga and bubaigawara. after our unpleasant first impression, i need to know i can trust their motivation for joining us. " / @trisagions - nemoto.

[overhual]

M. | ❝ you’re late. ❞ / @quirkthieves - geten.

behold, the young head. the room holds its breath as the leader steps inward. shadows seem to cling to the corners, cowering before him. why shouldn't they? it is he who commands them, and he who will usher them to light when he chooses to do so.

overhaul pauses upon being hailed. eyes narrow upon flicking over to the hooded guard dog. he's in no rush to answer the inquiry. instead, he makes a mental note to get the kid a mask if they're going to continue being in such close quarters.

and then, he continues on. a huff escapes him, muffled by rose petals and herbs in the mask. his tone is as it always is and always will be. disinterested. detached. yet still, how lucky the dog is to be spoken to.

" i was attending to other matters. you understand. " no apology nor request is given. rather, a demand. " walk with me. i have a few ideas on how to better utilize you in my group. "

[overhual]

THE OVERHAUL QUIRK.

in essence, it’s destruction and restoration, but it’s not that simple. it would be easy to say “overhaul just changes the cells”, however, it doesn’t quirk work like that. it’s stored in the hands (and the feet, though this is unknown to kai), and can work if any part of his hand comes into contact with an object.  note:  this headcanon is directly tied to @necrotises, as this overhaul is the origin of their decay. 

more under the cut. btw, this can be reblogged and be used for reference by rp partners only.

disassembly: the quirk itself has the ability to manipulate potential energy stored within an object, living or not, transforming it into heat or a kinetic energy at a rapid pace. in the case of overhaul, this transformation happens so rapidly that it must be pushed out with great force, resembling an explosion. 

reassembly: it’s a bit more complicated than “overhaul puts the disassembled material back together”. rather, the quirk can pull back affected material, living or not, and reform it into kai’s image. 

limitations.

precision: overhaul is not specific enough to splice down to atoms. he can get somewhat specific, but not specific enough to completely change the atomic makeup of an object. the object will always have qualities of its original form. that said, chisaki will do your transgender operations! (its reparations for accidentally misgendering magne. sorry mag. his bad.) he did his own top surgery, and opted to leave almost fishbone looking scars.

timeframe: reassembly can only occur for up to 15 minutes after disassembly. otherwise the ability to pull back the affected material is altered. were he to try reassemble after that time period, the object would need to be disassembled and reassembled once more. 

two-halves: disassembly is possible without reassembly, but not the reverse. if chisaki is not intending to reassemble, the energy must be released. as we see in magne, compress, and that one hassaikai babysitter, we see the “explosion” mentioned earlier. blood is splattered everywhere, and a mess is made. this is inevitable. were he to do this to another object, it would react similarly. 

specifics.

restoration: kai can decide how much of a person is reassembled, but this takes concentration to adjust to an imperfect level. the quirk naturally seeks to reassemble to a near-perfect level. it’s likely that if an ally is ressembled, they will find all cavities and minor injuries completely healed.  this may also happen if he’s in a rush, or looking to display his power. 

fusions: quick note here, kai can use overhaul through someone else’s hands, but only if they are fused to his body. there’s no magic possessing or anything. he must have the hands fused to his body in order for it to work. back to the main point.  kai can fuse any two objects together, including himself, though it is not necessary. 

fusing himself: kai will always remain the dominant consciousness if he’s fusing with another human. the other will be in a dream-like state, and likely will have blurry memories of the events once split. additionally, he can use the quirks of others once fused, as we see with nemoto. 

fusing others: whichever will be the dominant consciousness is a gamble. he can’t decide that; it’ll be something of a battle between the minds being fused. and because of that, fusing two humans is a risk.  chisaki can fuse more than two beings together, but the consciousness situation becomes more tricky after that, so he prefers to only fuse two, or fuse with himself.

stability: overhaul is an unstable quirk. anything may accidentally be overhauled when the gloves are off. should chisaki experience heightened emotional stress or external stimuli, he has little control over what gets overhauled. he has no issues immediately overhauling whatever puts him under such intense stress, so be mindful of staying in his good graces. additionally, many pillows and bedsheets have been overhauled during times of intimacy and ecstasy. the quirk itself was more unstable when he was younger, which the gloves helped. on top of this, he trained to keep himself calm in most situations, but it’s still a gamble when the gloves metaphorically (and physically) come off. 

experience. 

disassembling: being disassembled, though it seems like the most painful part, is actually the calm before the storm. it’s quick, and not the worst pain anyone is likely to feel. its uncomfortable, of course, as any manipulation of energy in the body would be. there is a warmth as the body part “explodes”, but as mentioned above, it’s so incredibly quick. the victim might not even know they were disassembled. 

reassembling: this is where all the pain that should've been experienced in the disassembling stage catches up to the victim. as nerves are rebuilt, the pain from the disassembling is finally felt, leaving the victim in genuine agony, even for those with high pain tolerances. 

those being reassembled can expect to experience: 

mind-altering pain.  the inability to speak or stand. they may also experience temporary amnesia. 

extreme psychological distress.  possible delusions/hallucinations from the pain.

physical symptoms.   nausea, vomiting, heart palpitations, sweating, muscle spasms, and more. 

chronic symptoms will include: 

common ptsd symptoms.   depression, anxiety, paranoia, nightmares, flashbacks.

phantom pains, despite the body being restored.

upgrades. 

atom-splicing:  were overhaul to upgrade this quirk, he would likely be able to splice things down to the atom . this would allow him to split quirks from owners, change the entire makeup of something, and so on.

contact:   another potential upgrade would be the ability to overhaul something from not just his hands nor feet. rather, his arm or leg could brush against something and change it.  

overhaul and chisaki. 

the quirk takes little from him. while some quirks come at the cost of stamina or concentration, overhaul doesn’t ask much from kai. he doesn’t need to know the makeup of something to restore it, nor does it take time for him to overhaul an object or person. the process happens in seconds. he attends medical school in order to get a better understanding of anatomy for his ultimate goal, though this knowledge helps him adjust the level of reassembly.

it has little psychological effect on him, and the only thing he “feels” when overhauling is moderate heat in his hands from the energy transfer. he does experience the same pain as a victim would when he overhauls himself. he trained to handle the pain and work through it quickly, but he still remarks it as unpleasant.

conclusion.

overhaul is an incredibly powerful quirk that certainly should’ve earned more than a “b-rank” in ultra analysis. it’s ultimately unstable, though chisaki has trained for the amount of control he has currently. it has many different applications, though the symptoms and side effects of being overhauled are intense.

[overhual]

thinking about how kai was taught traditional japanese by his father (before being abandoned) and by the orphanage/books he read/school/so on. pops also speaks this dialect, though occasionally switches if it fits the situation. however, growing up around gangsters, a young kai also picked up the yakuza-based/rougher dialect, too. nowadays he sticks to the traditional dialect for appearances sake, but when he loses his temper, he switches back to that yakuza dialect immediately.

[overhual]

the nature of decay. ↳ summary. “ the second all five of my fingers touch your neck, your throat would start crumbling, from the skin inward… you’d turn to dust in under a minute. ” uncanny. macabre. undeniably lethal. the following is a non-exhaustive description of the qualities of the decay quirk, tomura shigaraki’s primary style of combat throughout the majority of the story. this post is to be used predominantly as reference, and may be edited as opinions change and new information is discovered; i am still very new to writing tomura, so i might not get everything on the first go. the information will be rooted from a few sources, including the manga, its wiki, and my own personal headcanons. (essentially, this is just an excuse for me to gush about how interesting tomura’s quirk is.)

↳ overview. we know that decay disintegrates by a touch, but it was never explained how. initially, i weighed on whether or not i want decay to be something closer to rot. in theory, it makes sense; the quirk is called decay, and it does pretty much what it’s described to do. i figured that tomura’s ability just sped up the process, from autolysis to skeletonization to even skeletal decay in a matter of seconds. there’s an issue with that, though: rot can only be applied to things with cells (be it animals, plants, et cetera), and therefore it wouldn’t explain how tomura can use decay on, say, a phone or a computer. you can’t just expect a mechanical object to wither into dust, even if you left it alone for hundreds upon hundreds of years, unless you use some damn strong chemicals, and there’s no evidence suggesting that’s the case with tomura. his ability to decay is more natural, completely physical. similar reasonings can be said for objects such as rocks. thus, despite how appealing it sounds to me (that really could have made for some great horror threads), i think we can knock “rot/expedited decay” out of the list of possibilities.

so we’re back to the simple definition of disintegration. we could, of course, just leave it there and call it a day, but i prefer to dive deeper into the ‘how’. for the love of all that is holy, please take note that i am, by a longshot, no physician or chemist. all of the science behind these quirks, therefore, will be left vague enough to perhaps make some sense. that said, if you do specialize in these topics, i am most certainly sat for a lecture. anyway, with that aside, understanding the ‘how’ is a perfect segue towards an equally-as-interesting topic: the origin of the decay quirk itself.

↳ inception. also known as the science behind the decay quirk. to which, apparently, there was quite a bit of that. go figure.

workshopped by kyudai garaki and all for one, decay is a synthetic copy of the overhaul quirk, though stripped completely of the ability to restore a damaged product back to its original form. in short, the quirk is exclusively engineered to obliterate anything it comes in contact with. therefore, to understand decay, you have to have at least a baseline understanding of overhaul… except that overhaul isn’t explained too thoroughly, either. again, this is speculation and headcanon-piling, so for all intents and purposes i’ll be using @overhual’s personal headcanons about kai’s quirk. 

overhaul’s disassembling works pretty simply; he has the ability to manipulate the stored energy in an object such that the only way that energy can be properly released is to push out with great force. it’s similar to an explosion, and in that same vein, releases a degree of heat upon the afflicted target. i won’t go too much into it, myself; that’s meta for astro to write up. however, this becomes important to understand the process of decay itself.

or maybe i should say that it’s important to understand disintegration, which happens when the atomic bonds of molecules are broken down. to do this, there has to be an energy transfer, that which would be absorbed in said bonds. when these bonds break down, they become unable to hold shape. doing so en masse would essentially cause the complete failure of a structure, person, or thing. decay works similarly. in short, tomura has the ability to cause the building blocks of anything palpable to crumble, so long as he can physically plant all five fingers down upon it (early on, at least; later, she gains the ability to decay with less than five fingers). small particles or anything else that might be able to slip through her fingers seem to be completely immune to the effects of decay, which makes sense; if she can’t touch something, she can’t activate her quirk.

disintegration. energy transfer. cool. but that’s not the end of this meta just yet. the cool thing about tomura’s character — not to digress too much from the original intent of this meta — is the fact that, similarly to izuku, we get to grow and develop alongside her. she transitions from this dependent, bullheaded individual into what she perceives as her own villain (though that’s shot down the moment we believe it, too). needless to say, decay is a dangerous quirk from the start, but i’d argue that it wasn’t anything flashy for quite some time. it sort of just seemed like your run-of-the-mill-bad-guy ability that horikoshi wrote in… until it wasn’t. leading me to the next section.

↳ psychology. oh, yes. the psychology of the decay quirk. there seems to be quite a bit involved, as revealed during the events of my villain academia. for the sake of length, i won’t go over everything i noticed, but instead the major points that really construct tomura’s ego. 

before i go any further, i just want to dispute a pretty big misconception of tomura’s character: namely, that its skin condition is a result of the decay quirk. that’s completely incorrect. instead, tomura seems to have a psychosomatic reaction to stressors in his life, manifested as itchy and irritable skin. this is called a psychogenic itch. nao, tomura’s mother, believed it to be allergies — that seems to be false as well. that’s why we usually see it scratching when it’s irritable, stressed, or feeling other negative emotions. (i’ll eventually make meta about this, but for now, this is just a correction.)

back to the actual effects of decay, though. tomura’s spotlight during my villain academia is pretty much a love letter to this entire section. we see him overcome insurmountable odds and learn that the only limitation he had was his own psyche (and the same goes to toga and twice, as well). interestingly enough, when tenko was just a child, it seemed as though more attributes of her quirk were on display than we see during the beginning of the manga. 

i mean, just look at that. the destruction is insane. it spans into something long-distance, which was clearly something tomura lacked in the beginning of the story. additionally, as shown a few panels before:

a chain of decay. we see nao starting to crumble before tenko even has the opportunity to touch her, something that isn’t exhibited again until tomura’s reawakening. take note that the ability to disintegrate is slightly weaker than what we see during the beginning of the manga, too; it seems as though tomura had to develop into full-on disintegration, rather than the partial destruction we see in the above panels. still, the range at which decay is utilized during the quirk’s first manifestation is much greater than that which we see for a good portion of the story. the question, as usual, is why.

i use the term “reawakening” intentionally; tomura’s ability has always been there, but for whatever reason, it was locked away. though it isn’t explicitly confirmed, the signs all point towards tomura blocking the trauma out of his mind. it’s called dissociative amnesia. this is predominantly to protect oneself from the burden of carrying those memories, and is very different than simply forgetting something. make no mistake; tomura always carried those memories. he simply couldn’t access them until he was under a similar stress as he felt during his time with his biological family.

who knows when tomura forgot what happened; all we know is that by the time we’re introduced to her, she doesn’t remember a thing outside of the day all for one took her in. it’s very likely that they just faded in the years she was under all for one’s wing. we also see, initially, that tomura was hesitant to use the decay quirk as a child, perhaps because of those memories being so close to the surface. this is around the time i think tomura’s complete ability started to ‘weaken’ due to mental blocks. 

in what seemed as leveling up was simply the overcoming of mental stressors. this ‘liberated’ version of tomura, spat out towards the end of mva, is someone who didn’t exactly level up, but instead remembered the full extent of her ability. range increased. the extent of his destruction did, too. it’s everything tomura could have done from the very beginning physically, at last unleashed for everyone to see.

its effects are larger than that of when he was a child, but the reasoning for that is obvious: he’s grown since then, and his body has become more physically in-tune for his quirk to operate. if you want to take it a step further, you can even argue that now that he’s embracing his past, the psychological barriers held even as a child have been stripped, leaving him completely untethered.

↳ features. at last, what i initially promised before writing this meta: the special features of the decay quirk, including how it even feels to be decayed. take note that while my main-verse tomura’s decay can disintegrate an object almost simultaneously, prior to her reawakening, she was not able to obliterate something as quickly. thus, the effects of decay could be felt before losing consciousness and, almost instantaneously thereafter, life.

for one, i think the feeling depends on where tomura first touches you. something like a limb would be vastly different than your chest, your face, or what have you, simply due to the fact that different parts of your body would fail first. but generally, the initial impact is the same; fissures form deep within the skin a few inches surrounding tomura’s hand, splitting through meat and muscle. the fissures spread quickly, similarly to splintering a piece of wood, eating away at the proteins that bind someone together. although this part happens quickly, the pain is white hot, and may cause involuntary spasming of the afflicted muscle.

then comes the actual disintegration. this happens from the outside in, so while the cracked skin occurs horizontally across the body, the disintegration occurs vertically. the skin begins to grow stiff and hard, sensitive to the touch; during this time, a tugging sensation inward begins, as though someone is pinching and twisting the afflicted area. the stiff skin may hurt during this time, as it doesn’t want to budge from its typical position. the tugging sensation only heightens, though, enough to begin tearing through the skin and raising wounds, breaching the first layer of flesh. the body can be felt failing and, save for quick amputation, there’s nothing one can do, and certainly nothing that can be done to salvage the affected area.

the fissures eventually breach through bone and successfully disembody the afflicted area; depending on where he touches, this could mean immediate death. the disintegration occurs by those deep fissures branching off of each other, spreading like a great vein system to break down everything in contact. nerves are severed, but the brain is ‘tricked’, still alert to a pain in the damaged area. on a scale from one to ten, the general pain of being decayed sits at a seven or an eight: not excruciating or debilitating, but still can be felt intensely. typically, the most pain comes from the necessity of immediate amputation of the decayed area, as you must cut off a bit of healthy tissue in order to assure that everywhere decay touched has been eradicated.

the smell of a decayed body isn’t particularly pleasant, either; they don’t fade into nothingness upon being decayed, after all. scents of decomposition, blood, and heat are unmistakable, sickly-sweet, akin to a wound that has been sitting for too long and festered.

of course, as stated before, this process occurs almost simultaneously to the contact tomura makes post-mva, so someone wouldn’t even have the chance to feel the effects of decay. regardless, it’s not pleasant in the slightest. 

↳ conclusion. decay is a very powerful quirk with untapped potential for a good chunk of the story. intrinsically tied with tomura’s psychology, the extent to which she can wreak havoc is only limited by her mind. the ability itself is centric to energy processing, in which energy is transferred to molecules, causing atomic bonds to break and, as such, making the structure they upheld fail completely, as is the basis for disintegration. though it took some time to completely decay an object or person towards the beginning of my hero academia, tomura can now successfully decimate a target almost instantaneously. if you read this far, thank you for hearing my thoughts!

[overhual]

kai's post-canon verse. so this verse operates under the assumption that canon happens as we know it up until nagant frees chisaki. he armless, ambitionless, hassaikailess. you get the idea. however, the kai that we see in canon with nagant is not the one you'll see written on this blog- and i have a theory as to why he was written that way:

i imagine that horikoshi went a little too hard/too dark on overhaul and this mini-arc (and his end of canon shot) of his was a way to knock him down to a sniveling, pathetic shell of who he was to sort of ease the readers. it's hori going, "dw guys!! the bad guy's pathetic now!" type of thing.

there's no really no chance of kai getting "redemption", either. if he was to get recaptured, it'd be straight back to tartarus for him. there's no big victimization he was a part of, no super sad backstory. kai is a villain who is just bad to be bad - unlike toya, or even tenko. and as such, i tried to make his post-canon verse reflect that.

when this kai is freed by nagant, he does go with her to point out izuku, repaying his debt for her freeing him. once that contract is ended, chisaki leaves the scene, and nagant, deku, and co have their little reunion without him.*

* i am cooking up a separate verse with isa where nagant and kai stay together, rather than nagant getting recaptured.

he's on his own and seeks to reconnect/rebuild the hassaikai. he starts by finding hari, finding those who still have some loyalty to pops/to the hassaikai as a whole, and building from there. the entire operation comes from a place of humility and hard work. kai has prosthetics (with claws)*, is quirkless, and now has to use his skill and leadership to rebuild what he, himself, tore down. he returns to more a more old school yakuza way of thinking, and through his new humility and regaining some sense of humanity, the shie hassaikai is eventually rebuilt under him. this verse will likely be written/interacted with during a time where the hassaikai is known to be coming back under him, but isn't quite to its former glory.

* also, hilariously, overfeet is not completely off the table in this verse. however, to first discover that overhaul is stored in the feet, then to practice enough to get back to the level to fuse himself with new arms, and THEN to actually do so takes quite a bit of time. unless stated, kai will be written with high tech prosthetics.

[overhual]

★ BNHA 30 DAYS CHALLENGE ★ - DAY 14   *:･ﾟ✧ The most intimidating villain ✧ ･ﾟ:* 

★ CHISAKI KAI : AKA: OVERHAUL ★

[overhual]

okay but despite the silly ask, kai is 1* Smooth with it and 2* really isn’t entirely Hip to conventional interests of those his age.

point 1. kai is so charming and an incredible leader. i was talking to isa about this, but overhaul is so likable and manipulative on top of that! he picks up the outcasts on the street and gives them purpose and a place to belong. not to mention he’s handsome to boot. its not an uncommon thing to be charmed by him in the slightest. all of this can be applied to romance. he’s not shy and will flirt/charm his way to what he wants.

point 2. he’s not in touch with conventional interests because he doesn’t have the time for it and just doesn’t have an interest in it. it’s endearing to find that outside of studying, what few hobbies he does have are very reflective of pops and what pops was into. however, hari (and later, tomura, etc.) will help with this and wisen him up to more Cool and Hip Young Guy things to do. he plays the part well! its just not who he really is deep down. ask him if he plays league and he’ll charmingly say unfortunately he hasn’t, but he’d love to hear. inside he’s wondering what the fuck a league is.

[overhual]

if you've got this many people, you should have a bigger goal. you guys are sick. you need a cure.

ind. priv. OVERHAUL. written by astro.

[overhual]

" shigaraki. " voice breeds detachment. behind them, a medical ward hustles and bustles. managers and lead nurses train the underlings. those injured in the fight with the league of villains wait to be treated. of course, the most dire wounds are dealt with first. minor scrapes and breaks pollute the hallways and entryways. at the center of it all, overhaul; the honorary member of the league of villains, who helped see them to victory, who has not forgotten his ambitions - altered, though they may be. don't ask him how long he's been at work here, the hours spent after the grand battle just trying to make order out of this chaos.

the grand commander is granted privacy, naturally. she's given an examination room all to herself. the door clicks shut. white gloves are discarded. a new pair are put on. " to be honest, i'm surprised you're still conscious. " inward he steps to examine the most apparent injuries first. gloved fingers extend for the mangled hand. " as you can imagine, i have some questions ... but first, try to push your fingers against my hand. what sort of pain are you feeling right now? " / @necrotises